Postmodernism: What Hath Paris to Do with Jerusalem?

If you are skeptical about postmodern thought, I encourage you to check out “The Church and Postmodern Series” by Baker Academic, which “features high-profile theorists in continental philosophy and contemporary theology writing for a broad, nonspecialist audience interested in the impact of postmodern theory on the faith and practice of the church.” Five out of the scheduled seven books have been published. I have read the following:

James K. A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church

John D. Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church

Carl Raschke, GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn

Of these four titles, Caputo’s was my least favorite and the most problematic. If I had to pick only one in the series, I suggest the Smith title but the Raschke and Westphal titles are close runners-up. I anticipate reading Graham Ward’s The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens and Bruce Ellis Benson’s forthcoming title on improvisation as a paradigm for thinking about worship and the arts. (Bruce is a former professor of mine at Wheaton College.)

I would like to share two of my published reviews with Evangel readers: